MONTEREY, CA -- (Marketwire) -- 11/01/12 -- Century Aluminum Company (NASDAQ: CENX) reported a net loss of $12.0 million ($0.14 per basic and diluted common share) for the third quarter of 2012. Financial results were positively impacted by a net benefit of $4.1 million related to certain litigation items. Cost of sales for the quarter included an $8.2 million benefit for lower of cost or market inventory adjustments.

In the third quarter of 2011, Century reported a net loss of $6.6 million ($0.07 per basic and diluted share). Financial results were positively impacted by an unrealized net gain on forward contracts of $4.5 million related primarily to aluminum price protection options. Cost of sales for the quarter included a $13.5 million charge for lower of cost or market inventory adjustments.

Sales for the third quarter of 2012 were $304.6 million, compared with $345.6 million for the third quarter of 2011. Shipments of primary aluminum for the 2012 third quarter were 163,431 tonnes, compared with 150,832 tonnes shipped in the year-ago quarter.

For the first nine months of 2012, Century reported a net loss of $28.7 million ($0.32 per basic and diluted share). These results were negatively impacted by an unrealized net loss on forward contracts of $3.2 million primarily related to the mark to market of aluminum price protection options. Results were positively impacted by a net benefit of $4.1 million related to certain litigation items. Cost of sales in the first nine months of 2012 included a $19.8 million benefit for lower of cost or market inventory adjustments.

This result compares to net income of $42.4 million ($0.42 per basic and diluted share) for the first nine months of 2011. These results were negatively impacted by a $7.7 million charge related to the contractual impact of the changes in the Company's Board of Directors and the executive management team; a charge of $2.9 million related to an insurance receivable; an unrealized net loss on forward contracts of $1.6 million primarily related to the mark to market of aluminum price protection options; and a charge of $0.8 million related to the early retirement of debt. Changes to the Century of West Virginia retiree medical benefits program increased nine-month results by $18.3 million with an associated discrete tax benefit of $4.2 million. Cost of sales included an $8.6 million charge related to the restart of a curtailed potline at the Hawesville smelter and a $13.5 million charge for lower of cost or market inventory adjustments.

Sales in the first nine months of 2012 were $954.4 million compared with $1,038.3 million in the same period of 2011. Shipments of primary aluminum for the first nine months of 2012 were 484,226 tonnes compared with 446,493 tonnes for the comparable 2011 period.

"Markets have remained volatile," commented Michael Bless, President and Chief Executive Officer. "The sovereign debt crisis in Europe, uncertainty regarding the U.S. fiscal status during the election cycle and continuing relatively soft economic data reported by China are weighing on investor sentiment generally, and commodities and other risk assets specifically. Despite these factors, our U.S. customer markets remain reasonably strong, though we continue to monitor them closely. In total, market conditions as a whole have remained relatively unchanged for us during the last several months."

"We continue to make progress on our key initiatives," continued Mr. Bless. "Our plants in the U.S. and in Iceland have reached gratifying new levels of safety performance; that said, we continue to implement proactive plans and programs with the objective of continuous improvement toward world-class status in worker safety. We undertook a major step at Hawesville when we delivered a 12-month termination notice to the plant's electric power supplier. We took this step after concluding that the plant is not economically viable under the current power arrangement. We are now working with the relevant constituencies toward an agreement to access wholesale power markets. Given the structural changes taking place in the U.S. fuel and power sectors, we believe this market will yield an attractive solution for the long term. The Hawesville team is performing extremely well, especially in the face of conditions which are presently uncertain. In West Virginia, we have just filed a response to the order issued in early October by the Public Service Commission. We continue to believe a pathway should exist to create a power arrangement to enable a restart of this plant."

Third Quarter 2012 Earnings Conference CallCentury Aluminum's quarterly conference call is scheduled for 5:00 p.m. Eastern time today. To listen to the conference call and to view related presentation materials, visit www.centuryaluminum.com and click on the conference call link on the homepage. The webcast will be archived on our website and available for replay approximately two hours following the live call.

About Century Aluminum Century Aluminum Company supplies standard-grade, high-purity and value-added primary aluminum products to diverse downstream manufacturing customers in the aerospace, automotive and energy industries. The Company owns primary aluminum capacity in the U.S. and Iceland. Century's corporate offices are located in Monterey, Calif. Visit www.centuryaluminum.com for more information.

Cautionary Statement This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are statements about future, not past, events and involve certain important risks and uncertainties, any of which could cause our actual results to differ materially from those expressed in our forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties may include, without limitation, declines in aluminum prices or increases in our operating costs; worsening of global financial and economic conditions; increases in global aluminum inventories and the addition of new or restarted global aluminum production capacity; weakening of the company's U.S. customer markets; our ability to successfully obtain long-term competitive power arrangements for our U.S. plants, including access to the wholesale power market for Hawesville and a favorable conclusion of the West Virginia Public Service Commission proceedings for Ravenswood; and our ability to successfully progress the potential restart of our Ravenswood smelter. Forward-looking statements in this press release include, without limitation, statements regarding our ability to successfully access wholesale power for our Hawesville smelter and achieve an attractive long-term power solution for the plant; and our ability to obtain a power arrangement that enables a restart of our Ravenswood smelter. More information about these risks, uncertainties and assumptions can be found in the risk factors and forward-looking statements cautionary language contained in our Annual Report on Form 10-K and in other filings made with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We do not undertake, and specifically disclaim, any obligation to revise any forward-looking statements to reflect the occurrence of future events or circumstances.